Dali is situated at the foothills of Himalayas, on the southern end of legendary Silk Road, in Yunnan Province. Famous attractions in Dali are Three Pagodas, Butterfly Spring, Xihou Bai Minority Village, Erhai Lake, Dali Ancient Town, and Cangshan Mountain, etc..
Dali City stands against Cangshan Mountain in the west and adjoins Erhai Lake in the east, and is embraced by undulating hills around. The elevation of the city proper is 1,974 metres. It is 400 km. away from Kunming and one day"s bus ride will bring you to Dali via Chuxiong Prefecture.
Dali is situated near the foothills of the Himalayas, on the southern end of the legendary Silk Road, in Yunnan province, south of Tibet. Dali is also at the intersection of the Yunnan-Burma Highway and Yunnan-Tibetan Highway. Dali municipality covers an area of 1,457 square km. and is inhabited by 400 thousand people, composed of the Bai, Han, Hui, Yi, Lisu and other nationalities, among whom the Bai nationality makes up 64% of the total.
Dali is a highland city in low latitudes and its climate is of subtropical highland monsoon type. The weather is temperate, the annual mean temperature being 15 C and rainfall 1,078 mm. The monsoon season falls on June through October, and there is no marked seasonal changes in a year. Abundant sunshine makes the weather warm, but the wind is very strong, so Xiaguan of Dali is known as "A City of Wind."
Cangshan Mountain
Cangshan Mountain also is called " Diancang ". Cangshan Mountain thrusts up in the fashion of a huge screen wall in the west part of Dali.
Malong, the main peak, soars 4,122 metres into the sky under a snow mantle that never thaws. Down the vales, streams flow with a rich susurrus, up the slopes, the blue sky is obscured by the dense foliage of clumps of ancient trees, atop the peaks, lakes sparkle like so many mirrors. With its vast collection of plants and trees, the Cangshan Mountain is also a veritable botanical garden.
Dali Ancient Town
Featuring stone walls, grey-tiled roofs, doors and windows carved with dragon and phoenix patterns, and gardens of varying sizes, the dwellings of Dali evince an air of classic sanctity. The entire city is covered by a maze of streams, fed by runoffs from the Cangshan Mountain. Hence the saying, “The gurgling of water can be heard in every house, and flowers are planted in every family”.
Nestling in the arms of the statuesque Cangshan Mountain, and skirted by a wall eight meters in height and 3.5 kilometers in circumference, Ancient Town of Dali was first built in 1683, the 15th year of the Hongwu Reign of the Ming Dynasty.
The 1,000-year-old town of Dali is known as a shining pearl inlaid in the southwestern highland. The town is located between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.A poet praised the ancient town in a verse, “Pavilions and towers appear above the cloud and the town spreads between the mountain and the lake.”
The ancient town of Dali was originally called Yangjumie Town. It was built by the ancestors of the Bai ethnic group. In779,Yi Muxun, the sixth king of Nanzhao State, moved his capital from Taiye Town to the ancient town of Dali. He ordered the construction of the new capital by imitating the layout of Chang’an, then the capital of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains.
The outer city has six streets and three markets and was inhabited by merchants from various places. The square inner city in the middle is called Yeyu City. It is four “Li” in circumference and was where the royal family and officials lived. More structures were added later by kings of Nanzhao and Dali states .from 823 to 859, in the reign of Quan Youfeng, the tenth king of Nanzhao State.
Wuhua Tower was constructed west of the ancient Dali town. The magnificent tower has a circumference of five “Li” and can accommodate as many as 10,000 people. Later, Qianxun Pagoda was erected at the Chong sheng Temple in the northwest .By the time of Dali State, construction of the other two pagodas at the temple was completed. After the founding of Dali State, Yeyu City was renamed Dali and continued to be the capital, which is now known as the ancient town of Dali.
Erhai Lake
Erhai Lake, Situated in Dali city of western Yunnan Province, Erhai Lake and Cangshan Mountain are gifted with green mountains, exquisite waters, and myriad scenic spots, plus unique customs of the national minorities.
Also known as Yeyu Pond, Xi"er River and Kunmi River in old times, is named after its shape and expanse. "Er" in Chinese means a human ear and "Hai" means a sea, hence its name Erhai. It is one of the seven biggest fresh water lakes in China and the largest highland lake next to Dianchi Lake (in Kunming). So it was called "Plateau Pearl". The dimension is 41.5 km. by 6.9 km. It starts from Jiangwei of Eryuan County in the north and ends at Xiaguan in the south. The total storage capacity is 3 billion cubic metres and its elevation 1,972 metres.
Erhai Lake is a 400 sq km stretch of water, which dominates the landscape around Dali. The lake is an important source of fish for the local people. The lake can be explored by foot or by hiring a boat to visit the islands and sights along the shore. Xiao Putuo Dao is a small island and home to a 15th century temple dedicated to the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin.
Its vast pool of water, shining under the sun like a sheet of vivid green, and the snow mantles of the Cangshan Mountain reflected quiveringly in it, combine to form a breath-taking sight known poetically as " Silver Cangshan and Jade-like Erhar ".
Erhai Park Also known as Tuanshan Mountain. The Erhai Park covers an area of more than 15,000 mu. The Mountain slopes are cocooned in luxuriant pines and cypresses and grass, and embroidered with clusters of camellias, azaleas, primrose, and exotic trees and flowers, which can be found only in and around Dali.
The pavilions, chambers and corridors atop the Tuanshan Mountain provides an all-encompassing view of the Cangshan Mountain, shimmering on the horizon like an immense screen, the Erhai Lake, its vast expanse of liquid silver strewn with white sails and alive with darting gulls and swallows, and the ancient city of Dali and its trio of pagodas, which are faintly visible in the distance. It is, indeed, an ideal place to marvel at the famous scene titled " Silvery Cangshan Mountain and jade-like Erhai Lake ".
Three Pagodas
Three Pagodas located in Chongsheng Temple, is about 1 kilometers (0.6 miles) northwest of the Dali Ancient City. Facing Erhai Lake, Chongsheng Temple is located at the western border Cangshan Mountain. It's said that 9 Kings of Dali Kingdom chose to be a Chongsheng monastery in the temple. The Three Pagodas inside the temple was built 1,800 years ago. It is a symbol of the history of Dali City, and a record of the development of Buddhism in the area. As its name implies, Three Pagodas are made of three ancient independent pagodas forming a symmetrical triangle. This is unique in China. A visit to the pagodas should not be missed by any visitor to Dali City.
Xizhou
Xizhou is a Bai minority town on the shore of Erhai Hu, 23 kilometers north of Dali. It is a beautiful farming village with rich history and some of the most wonders traditional Bai ethinic houses.
It is now more than 1000-year-old. As one of the remained ancient village, Xizhou is the witness of city history. Xizhou village has a more mixed population and cosmopolitan background. It grew and flourished in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) along with the fortunes of Dali"s renowned tea merchants that traded with Tibet. Xizhou is as well famous for Xizhou Pizza (Baba in Chinese, a kind of flat pan-cake).